The 10 Best Films of the Decade

Daniel Day-Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 masterpiece, There Will Be Blood.

There’s no getting around it: ten-best lists are arbitrary and cruel. Summing up as cinematically rich a decade as this one is impossible, and any such attempt can promise nothing but blood feuds and celluloid psychosis. So, let’s give it a try!

The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

The first decade of this century will be remembered as the moment when comics finally conquered the cinema. At the dawn of the decade, Comic-con was just another massive geek-fest that studios barely acknowledged. Now it’s a necessary stop on any summer blockbuster’s publicity blitz. For studio chiefs in need of $50 million-plus opening weekends, it’s become a mandatory ritual to offer their first-born (director, stars, t-shirts) to the fanboys. From Spiderman to Sin City, the fan gods have been kind (and the studios have cashed in big), but it was hard take these movies seriously until Christopher Nolan took Batman seriously. Heat for the caped-vigilante set, The Dark Knight proved that if you pay attention to quality, take creative risks, and shoot it on IMAX, you can make even unholier sums of money.

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)

Attention all girls aged 13 to 35 who think Twilight is the only film to fuse chastity with overwhelming desire; we highly recommend you check out this art-house darling. Lush, swelling romanticism; exotic period locals; stifled, unspoken emotions: it’s all too easy for this stuff to be mummified by artifice upon arrival. But Wong took every brush in his hyper-aesthetic bag and painted a vibrant, poignant, and heartbreaking love story. He also produced the most erotic film of the decade—one whose star-crossed lovers never even share a kiss.

The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001, 2002, 2003)

We include this on the list not only because it’s a three-for-one deal, but also because legions of Rings fans would throw us into the fires of Mordor if we didn’t acknowledge their precioussssss. Jackson deserves the honor for bringing to life one of the most rabidly beloved books of all time on a mega-budget scale with spectacular special effects—and getting it right. With a Wagnerian ambition that would have made David Lean proud, did Peter Jackson make the Star Wars of this decade? Maybe, except Star Wars never won the big Oscar.

Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

The Graduate for the global age, this is intensely personal filmmaking at its finest. At the least, it should be mandatory viewing for anyone taking their first trip to Tokyo, or whoever thought that Bill Murray guy from Ghostbusters was some kind of genius. How can every other indie film combine a meandering non-narrative, delicately impressionistic imagery, and a bittersweet, pyrrhic ending and not pack one-tenth the emotion? Where’d this Coppola kid learn filmmaking?

The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)

As The Fantastic Mr. Fox reminded everyone, when it comes to quirky family fights, perfectly curated British Invasion soundtracks, and mise-en-scène that makes you feel like a kid again, no one does it quite like Wes Anderson. (Though many try.) Few filmmakers possess as distinct a voice as Anderson. If he had his own adjective in the movie dictionary, The Royal Tenenbaums would be the definition. As an added bonus, Gene Hackman gives a performance that crowns his illustrious career with a shocking revelation: he is hilarious.

Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

It would be easy to dismiss Amelie as light, breezy, escapist fare that has little to no relation to the world we live in—but isn’t that the point of movies to begin with? Unless you’re the Unabomber, it’s a near statistical certainty that someone you know owns this film, and has watched it 1,000,000 times. Girls love it, and guys are grateful because it saves them from having to watch 10 Things I Hate About You with their girlfriends on movie night. Also, this film single-handedly boosted the garden gnome industry to record profits.

Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)

Heartbeat for pounding heartbeat, we defy you to name any movie that had you more on the edge of your seat than Children of Men. With Hitchcockian flair and brainy Bladerunner brawn, Alfonso Cuarón created a film that deserves to be seen far more than it has been. Run quick to the Costco bargain bin and see if you can pick up the Blu-Ray before Universal realizes what an undervalued gem it has and jacks up the price. You’ll never be able to watch another end-of-the-world cautionary tale again.

United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006)

For Americans, it’s almost impossible to watch this film more than once. And for a cineaste, it’s vital to see it at least once. So rarely is the art of film employed so powerfully in the service of deeply, painfully felt communal tragedy; more often than not, one overwhelms the other, or does disservice to it. So, it’s something of a miracle that, so soon after 9/11, Hollywood, of all places, could produce this movie. The only reason not to watch it would be because you can’t.

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

You may have a noticed surprising absence of Pixar work on this list despite the fact that no company has made more money, impressed more critics, and pleased more audiences than the bastard love child of Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. True, each Pixar film is a gem in its own right, and it’s widely rumored that the devil has gross points on Lasseter’s soul. However, if you’re talking animation with an unparalleled power to provoke pure wonder and wide-eyed enchantment, even Lasseter would gladly bow down to Hayao Miyazaki. Watching this film is not only to feel like a child again, it’s to dream like a child again.

There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

What’s the last film you’ve seen that got a standing ovation in the theater? Classic, innovative, and totally insane, Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece drinks every other movie’s milkshake. It’s also the great critique of the American character at the start of this century. Anderson stripped away all illusions and forced us to confront our age’s win-at-all-costs ethos with his brutal, touching story of a California oilman who gains the world and loses his son. It’s not an easy piece to swallow, but like a flaming oil derrick lighting the night sky, it inspires awe, fear, and respect. (And watch carefully for the tender sadness of a flashback that makes you feel pity for a psychopath.) There Will Be Blood may still be ahead of its time, but one day, we may well speak of it in the same hushed tones we use for Citizen Kane, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Godfather. Bowling to Brahms’s violin concerto will never be the same again.

P.S. In a feeble attempt to hedge our bets against history, and prevent hate-email from clogging our inbox, here’s a quick list of other notable films that would have made the list, had we owned a DVD of them: Adaptation, Almost Famous, Army of Shadows, Avatar, Billy Elliot, Brokeback Mountain, Cache, City of God, Collateral, The Departed, The Edge of Heaven, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gladiator, Grizzly Man, Harry Potter, Head-On, High Fidelity, The Hurt Locker, Kill Bill, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Lives of Others, Let the Right One In, Master and Commander, Match Point, Mulholland Drive, Nobody Knows, No Country for Old Men, Old Boy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Punch Drunk Love, Ratatouille, Sideways, Summer Hours, Traffic, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Waltz with Bashir.